National Fire Agency chief: “Pursuing permanent status for the Central Special Inspection Team” [2026 parliamentary audit]

[Financial News]  The National Fire Agency (NFA) is pursuing a plan to make the Central Special Inspection Team, currently a temporary unit, a permanent one. It will also consider requiring facilities where alarms repeatedly sound despite there being no fire—prompting fire crews to respond—to replace their fire alarms.
NFA Commissioner Choi Yong-cheol gave this response on the 7th during the National Assembly Security and Public Administration Committee’s parliamentary audit of the NFA, answering lawmakers’ questions about internal inspections of the fire service and measures to address false alarms.
Lee Gwang-hui of the Democratic Party of Korea pointed out that a comprehensive audit of the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters conducted by Busan Metropolitan City last May, for the first time in about 10 years, uncovered 22 cases of illegal or improper conduct and resulted in 56 people facing personnel action.
The audit uncovered problems involving personnel, recruitment, disciplinary action, accounting and contracts. It also included a case in which 34 million won from an employee mutual-aid fund, built up through staff salaries, was transferred four times to the personal account of the staff member in charge; a police investigation is underway.
Some regions had also gone a long time without a comprehensive audit. No such audit had been conducted in Daegu for 14 years and five months, in North Gyeongsang for 13 years and 10 months, or in Incheon for 10 years and 11 months.
Lee said that although the NFA commissioner has no authority to conduct regular comprehensive audits of local fire headquarters, the commissioner can inspect city and provincial fire officials under inspection regulations. He called for strengthening inspection capabilities at the central level.
In an organizational culture assessment conducted by the NFA last August, 64.6–72.8% of respondents said they had experienced misconduct but remained silent. Only 0.8–3.3% said they had used official reporting channels.
The NFA’s headquarters currently has three staff members in its permanent inspection unit. In seven cities and provinces, personnel handle inspection duties alongside other work, without a separate audit or inspection department.
In July, the NFA drew personnel from cities and provinces to form the 26-member Central Special Inspection Team, but it is currently operating as a temporary unit. When Lee said the team should be made permanent, Commissioner Choi replied, “That is what we intend to pursue.”


[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter